Modernity, Region, and Technoscience: One Small Cheer for Asia as Method

This article is a historiographical and methodological intervention in the discussion of modernity, coloniality, and global history. It does two things. First, it highlights an important but neglected topic in the existing literature on modernity and globalization, viz. the significant role of science in traditional narratives of modernity. These traditional narratives have been challenged by new approaches in both history of science and history of modernity. The article goes further and provides a critique of these new approaches. It argues that they should take more into account the concepts of scale and region. Second, the article suggests a methodologically oriented and operational definition of region in the context of history of science and modernity. To illustrate this point, it discusses the potential and risks of adopting ‘Asia as method’ as an approach to global history of science and modernity.